Child of My Heart
by friendlyneighborhoodfairy
Summary: Laxus and Freed take in a child they rescued on a quest. Her magic is powerful—and very similar to Freed's. One day she goes missing as a magical storm crashes down upon Magnolia. Freed realizes he can't handle the thought of losing her. {Fraxus fluff with Gratsu, Canajane, and Leluvia. Sequel to Cana's Weekly Drinking Club.}
1. A Small Dragon

**Child of My Heart**

 **A/N:** This goes along with chapters 11 and 14 of _Cana's Weekly Drinking Club._ (Ch. 14 is a standalone and it's better if you read it before this fic.)

For MyFictionalFantasy, as a late birthday present, plus you're an incredibly patient friend and you deserve to see this mutual headcanon of ours come true. ^^

I am still updating my regular multi-chaps.

* * *

 **A Small Dragon**

Freed made his way through the kitchen, erasing runes every few meters. Fumie's version of runes was cute, but the fact that she did it _everywhere_ got a little inconvenient.

He'd finally made it to the pantry when a familiar early-morning grumble announced Laxus's presence.

"You left the bed," the Dragon Slayer complained, yawning and rooting around for a glass.

"I've been awake for a while. I _was_ just going to get tea and come back up, but there were a number of traps I had to deal with first."

Laxus's grunt was both laughter and annoyance.

"There's got to be a better way to erase them," he said.

"That's not how runes work," Freed said. "The only reason I can un-write them so easily is that I'm significantly stronger than she is. For now. She has to learn not to do this."

The subject of their conversation trailed in. Freed still hadn't determined what emotion expanded in his chest when she appeared each morning: on the surface it was all frustration at how messed up her hair got because she wouldn't let him braid it at night. But if he let his heart speak a little more, there was desperate relief too.

She'd stayed with them for several months now, and he still had occasional nightmares where someone awful came to take her away.

As she entered, Freed smiled and said, "Good morning."

"Morning."

"How did you sleep?" Laxus asked her while she hovered sleepily in the doorway. Freed returned to rooting around the pantry.

"Fine," she said.

She only answered honestly when Laxus asked; Freed chocked that up to the time Laxus told her about his own bad dreams. Laxus told her that the dragon-spirit who protected him when he was little was now going to protect her, and that she could picture the dragon curled around her to remind herself everything was okay. Fumie _loved_ that story, and talked about the dragon-spirit often.

"Fumie," Freed said suddenly. "This bread was not here yesterday."

He turned around, and he and Laxus both looked at her. She cuddled closer to the doorjamb.

"You know what we call teleporting things that don't belong to us," Laxus said.

"Stealing," she murmured.

"Can you return it to the person it belongs to?"

Her eyes tracked back and forth between them, as though looking for the weak link.

"Fumie, do you know we have enough food?" Freed asked. "We aren't going to run out."

Her only reaction was her eyes widening a little, but he knew he'd hit the mark.

"I promise. We have lots to eat, and if we run out, we can buy more. And always eat at the guild, too."

"I have an idea." Laxus knelt. "Can I show you something?"

She nodded. When he held out his arms, she darted around and climbed on his back instead.

Watching them head toward the hallway, Freed pulled out food that _did_ belong to them and started on breakfast.

A few minutes later he walked out holding a plate and found them by one of the stashes where they kept Jewels.

"…you got it," Laxus said, and Fumie said, "Hah!"

"Learning the rune to unlock it?" Freed asked.

"Yep." Laxus watched her fiddle with the money inside. "Now you know how to get to it if you need to, okay? If something happens and Freed and I aren't here, you won't have to steal. Use that in an emergency."

"Okay." Soberly, she closed it up and rewrote the rune to seal it.

"Nice," Freed said. "Have a rice ball."

Whirling, she snatched one and grinned up at him. Laxus also took one and joined her in a grateful, cheeks-full-of-food smile.

Freed felt full in the happiest way.

"C'mon." Acting normal was the only way to keep from beaming like a crazy person for no reason. "The rest of breakfast is in here. We have to keep your magic and your body replenished."

"What are you going to teach me today?" she asked, following him with Laxus right behind.

Freed paused. Sometimes she got clingy when he left for the day.

"Is Levy-oba going to teach me?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, relieved she wasn't upset, "she and Lucy-oba will take you today. Lucy said there was a book you wanted her to read aloud."

Lucy was helping teach Fumie to read for herself, something they'd decided needed to happen as soon as possible since she was already writing long strings of runes she didn't know the meanings of.

"It's a book about dragons," Fumie said. "It has a green one on the front."

"Is Aiko going to read with you?" Freed asked.

"Of course."

The aforenamed toy dragon was, as usual, under her arm.

"Where are you gonna be?" she asked.

"Freed and I are going on a job," Laxus replied. "That's how we make sure we have Jewels."

They'd reached the table and Freed saw Fumie nod seriously as she sat.

"Are you going with your team?" she asked.

"Usually we do, but it'll be just us today." Freed smiled at Laxus. "Sometimes we like to do jobs together."

"Because you like each other," she said.

Freed laughed. "Yes."

"Who told you that?" Laxus asked, pointing his chopsticks at her in mock accusation. "That was supposed to be secret. I thought _nobody_ knew how much I really, really like Freed."

"You told me," Fumie replied.

"I did?" Laxus said.

She nodded.

"When?" Laxus looked genuinely perplexed.

"You say 'I love you' every night," she said triumphantly.

"Oh no, we have a spy in our midst," Freed grinned.

"You say it right in front of me!" she protested, giggling. They laughed.

"Fumie," Laxus said seriously, "you know we love you too, right?"

Her light nod lacked the gravity Laxus had put in the words, but she looked innocent and gleeful, and maybe that was better. "That's why there's foooood, right?"

Laxus smiled. "Right."

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't normally do this when I need to name an oc, but I couldn't help myself: Fumie (depending on the kanji) can mean a literary composition, and also looks similar to the Latin "fulmin," lightning.


	2. Born in Blood

**Born in Blood**

Freed held a hand up against the rain, trying to clear his eyes. In another thirty seconds it would likely be gone, but the intermittent storm bouts were not making this easy.

It had him twice as worried as he already was.

Fumie had gone behind the guild to practice her magic—something she was allowed, and encouraged, to do. The space behind the guild was cleared away for such purposes and, moreover, safe. All she had to do was yell to get a hundred mages running to her rescue. For that matter, all she had to do was whisper for Laxus and the other Dragon Slayers to hear. She was a child of the guild: they would all come for her when she called.

She liked practicing by herself and went out there often: she would bite her lip and sit there scratching in the dirt as she came up with new ways to make her magic do what she wanted. Freed had discovered that she was making up new languages according to her whims, and instead of being nervous, he was delighted.

Mages didn't just _make_ new runes. Nobody made new runes. No way was he going to squash this creativity.

But now, he was second-guessing every decision he'd ever made, because they couldn't find her and the weather was going mad.

Laxus hadn't heard anything amiss—that made it scarier. They'd been inside talking with Mira, and Freed had registered the thunder, Laxus perking up. And then, out of nowhere, a dozen repeated strikes of lightning hit very, very close to the guild, deafening everyone inside.

Laxus had gone pale. Freed knew his partner could sense lightning well before it struck. If he hadn't sensed them coming, that meant it was magic bringing the bolts down.

A dozen more struck. Behind the guild.

Fumie could do some small lightning magic; it was the only non-runic magic she used. But nothing like this. Fear was a strong, pulsing ball of energy in Freed's chest as he combed the scattered woods behind the guild. The intermittent torrents of rain and hail had washed out any scent, and the dozen Fairy Tail mages helping them were searching blind.

Rounding a tree, Freed nearly ran into Laxus. The sky had gotten incredibly dark.

"Who's doing this?" Freed shouted over the storm. He might be crying; choking out words was difficult.

"I don't know," Laxus said, expression cold and angry. Blaming himself.

Just then, a bolt of lightning came down nearly on top of them, so close Freed's nonmagical eye was blinded. He heard Laxus cursing at the top of his lungs.

They both started running in the direction it had struck.

Above them, the rain halted abruptly again. Like someone had snapped their fingers and transported it elsewhere.

Then the dark clouds shifted. They swirled, evaporating, dissipating into the blue. _Nothing_ in nature did that, and it was terrifying to see.

Who the fuck dared mess with Freed's child?

In the sudden quiet, their crashing footsteps seemed to echo—but there was another sound too. Even Freed, with his normal ears, could hear it: it sounded like a child shrieking.

Veering, they changed direction slightly, and if Freed thought he was sprinting before, somehow he managed to push himself faster. It sounded like she was dying—

With longer legs, Laxus outpaced him. Freed crashed in the clearing a few seconds later: it had not been a clearing before, he realized, seeing blackened stumps of trees in a large circle. At the edge of the circle, curled up in the untouched roots of an oak, Fumie was crying.

There were no foes in evidence, just a creeping magical discharge that stood the hair on Freed's arms on end. And it was coming from Fumie.

Laxus practically fell on his knees, trying to draw her into a hug, but half a meter from her he was rebuffed. By her own runes—Freed recognized them instantly.

What the fuck?

"Fumie," Laxus said as Freed skidded up beside him. "Fumie, I need you to listen to my voice. I'm right here, and I need you to take down this jutsu shiki so I can help you, okay? Fumie?"

She just cried harder, screaming into her knees. The rain started again, out of the clear blue sky, as if her emotions had called it…because they had, because vast amounts of magic were pouring off her body. No. No way. _How?_

Freed realized there was a small dribble of blood from her ear, and his heart went into his throat.

"Laxus…"

"I know. I can smell it," the Dragon Slayer growled.

Fumie moaned, "smells," and sobbed.

Laxus's hands were glowing with electric charge, pressing futilely at the barrier.

"Freed, I can't…"

But Freed was already working, skimming through the symbols and seeing familiar patterns. He was supremely glad they had the same magic and that she'd excitedly shown him when she made up new tricks, because he recognized several of her made-up languages in the mix and, thank goddess, could read them. It took him a moment to translate everything, Laxus vibrating impatiently beside him.

Several others ran up as he was reworking the last lines, circling around but staying blessedly quiet.

As soon as the barrier was down, Laxus fell forward, he and Freed reaching for her together. Runes dissolved, Fumie screamed at the top of her lungs and her fingers glowed with some sort of magic Freed didn't have time to recognize.

"Don't!" Laxus shouted, grabbing her fists in his. "Don't lock us out."

Fumie slumped in his grip, giving up and letting the magic wink out. As Laxus pulled her onto his lap, Freed ran his fingers through her hair, trying to pull the wet strands from her face so he could see her.

"Fumie, I promise we're not angry," he soothed when she thrashed away from him. "You're not in trouble. We just want to know what happened. We love you, and we want to help, okay? Are you hurt?"

Still crying in Laxus's grip, she shook her head but then nodded. The motion brought her face up from her knees and showed her eyes, shut tight, the skin red and angry as if she'd been pressing hard or scratching.

"Where does it hurt?" Laxus asked.

She didn't answer, but her mouth moved with her sobs, disconnected sounds that seemed almost like words.

Very, very gently Freed touched his fingers to her temples to hold her still, getting a closer look at her eye sockets. Though irritated, there were no gashes or bruising.

Finally, she stuttered through, "Lightning."

"Did you get hit by the lightning?" Laxus asked softly.

She shook her whole body in the negative, then touched Laxus's chest. "L-Lightning…"

"You summoned it?" Laxus asked when no more words came.

Fumie thrashed again and hit his chest, hard. Screaming, she pulled back as if her hand was broken, quivering all over. Laxus carefully uncrooked her fingers, but they were all working fine.

Then she pulled her hand back and put her palms together in a gesture that was terribly, terribly familiar. With her chest heaving, she cracked one eye to look at them, shutting it again immediately.

"Oh my god," Freed croaked. "No. Wait."

Laxus had gone pale, loosening his grip on her.

"Freed, knock her out."

"What?"

"Fumie," Laxus whispered, "it's going to be okay. We're going to get the pain to stop. Trust me. It'll be okay. Freed: Knock. Her. Out. _Now._ "

If she had done what Freed thought… Laxus would know what was best.

He wrote a single rune, and Fumie fell asleep. In the empty silence left behind by her cries, Freed turned around and saw the rest of the search party. He felt sick: he'd just deliberately put her unconscious. She was basically his _child_ and he'd knocked her out with his own hands.

"T-Tell me that was the right thing to do," he said to Laxus, trembling.

"For right now? Yeah," Laxus said in a low voice. "It was the only way. We had to stop the trauma to her senses."

"What happened to her?" Gray asked, face twisted down in fearful concern.

Laxus just shook his head.

Freed couldn't talk. He couldn't take in anything right now. His brain was looping. He let Laxus lift her as they stood, but Freed kept a hand on her arm, needing to know she was still there.

"Guild," Freed stammered. "We need to take her to the guild."

"What's wrong with her?" Lisanna repeated as the group hurried back through the trees, the guildhall coming into view. "Mira and I will run ahead to the infirmary."

Freed opened his mouth and closed it.

"You can't do anything," Laxus said.

Erza opened the doors for them as they entered, Laxus looking every which way, then down at his charge, then every which way again. When Freed held out his arms, Laxus carefully passed her over. Freed stared down at the small, deceptively peaceful face and wanted to cry.

"Jijii," Laxus said, twisting in a wider circle, glancing behind the bar, into the kitchen. "We need Jijii."

The few mages who hadn't been searching the woods darted around, confused chaos invading the hall.

"Jijii…" Laxus murmured again.

Mira put her hands to mouth and bellowed, "Master! Get out here!"

There was a crash somewhere upstairs. "Goddammit. Just a minute."

 _"Get the fuck down here!"_ Mira screamed.

Freed was vaguely aware of Laxus waving Gajeel and Natsu closer, while Wendy was at Freed's side asking to see. Freed held Fumie closer to his chest.

The old man wandered out of his office.

"Mira, what the hell…"

Makarov saw Freed's bundle, paled, and dashed to their side, reaching out to touch Fumie's cheek. "What happened?"

And suddenly, Laxus looked lost. He gazed at Freed, something spilling down his cheek.

"She used her magic," Freed said slowly, as if drawing the words out would leave room for them to become untrue. "And she made herself…I think she enchanted…"

"Dragon Slayer," Laxus said.

Freed could've heard a pin drop. Or, in this case, Gajeel stumbling backward until his back met a table. He looked utterly stunned.

" _What?"_ Natsu hissed, and at Freed's side Wendy looked like she might cry from shock.

"That's not possible," she protested in a high voice. "Without a dragon, she can't—a human can't— That's not how it works…"

"I know!" Laxus growled. "But her ears are bleeding and she tried to scratch her eyes out because her senses are overloading and she screamed just from the impact of hitting me lightly."

"She'd written herself into a jutsu shiki," Freed swallowed, "that was supposed to block out smells and touch."

Laxus turned to his grandfather.

"When we asked her what was wrong, she kept indicating me, and when we still didn't get it, she started to do this stance—" Laxus showed him.

"That's a Dragon Slayer stance!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Why is she unconscious?" Makarov asked, deep frown creasing his forehead.

In the silence, Freed felt emotion welling up.

"Runes," Laxus sighed. "I asked Freed to put her out…"

"Good," Makarov said.

"What are you going to do when she wakes up?" Gajeel asked, the worry on his face making him look angry. "She'll still be seeing and feeling way more than she's ever experienced before…"

"There has to be a way to un-heighten her senses and give her time to get used to it incrementally," Makarov said.

"When you learn from a dragon, that's what they do," Wendy said. "It's not one enchantment all at once. It's layers and layers over time, and they're training you and preparing you the whole time, taking care of you and raising you to be ready…"

"I survived," Laxus said. "She can, too."

Freed found his voice.

"You cried for months. You were in pain for a long time, Laxus. I won't put her through that."

"I'm not sure," Laxus choked, "that we can avoid it."

They stared at each other in shared heartbreak.

"How did she do this in the first place?" Mira asked in a quiet voice, shaking her head. "Is it even permanent? How do we know the magic is right—maybe it was done wrong, and she _won't_ adjust to it."

Freed rounded on her.

"Don't fucking tell me there's nothing we can do!" he shouted.

Mira took a step back. Makarov stepped up to Freed.

"Infirmary," he ordered.

Holding Fumie against his chest, Freed stalked gratefully across the hall, hearing voices but tuning them out. He couldn't handle any more.

When he put Fumie down on a bed, he saw the drips of blood by her ears again, crusting brown into her drying hair. Both of their clothes were still wet, but injuries came first: Freed rooted around and busied himself with the practical.

It seemed her eardrums had ruptured but healed again, and the skin around her eyes wasn't too badly irritated, so he merely applied a balm; she seemed otherwise unhurt. On the outside.

He kept staring at her face, expressionless in sleep and looking even younger than normal. Her hair was a wild halo around her thanks to the storm, and he combed it out until it lay neat against the pillow. Perfect. And unconscious.

When Laxus came in, Freed was curled up on the edge of her bed staring down at her, the pair of them clean and dry and taken care of, blanket pulled up to Fumie's chin.

"They came up with some ideas," Laxus said. "We think we can make it okay for her to wake up. We can dampen sound and light in the room, minimize airflow; it'll require your magic. We'll slowly get her used to the world again."

"She'll be okay?" Freed murmured.

"Think so."

When Freed met his gaze, Laxus smiled sadly at him, eyes drained and broken. The hollowness in Freed's chest turned to liquid, and he motioned Laxus over.

Laxus squeezed onto the other side of the mattress, Fumie in the middle. Resting his head, Freed stared into his orange eyes.

"You know, I always liked—" Laxus yawned, "that she looks like you."

Freed broke into a watery smile.

"She _is_ me. And she's you, too."

"Ours," Laxus agreed, closing his eyes. "Freed…"

"Mm."

"Can we be a family? Legal guardians, not just…this?"

It took Freed a moment to breathe normally. Laxus cracked an eye open when Freed started crying, and reached over to brush his hair back.

"Yeah," Freed whispered. "I want that."


	3. The Scent of Joy

**The Scent of Joy**

Fumie's head jerked up as Freed came into the room.

"Hi, Fumie."

"Hi," she said shyly and Freed broke into a smile.

She twisted back and forth looking remarkably healthy—pink cheeks, bright eyes, no wounds—and Freed couldn't have been happier.

Guildmembers had transformed the room: it was too risky to move her, so they'd cleared out a sunny wing of the infirmary for her. For now it was her sanctuary and prison, though with how doting the guild was, it was much more the former.

The light through the windows was almost full-strength now, but Freed heard sounds go muted as soon as he stepped in the door. The place was devoid of scents, something he wouldn't notice with his human nose except that the infirmary usually carried strong smells.

As he approached, Fumie's nose scrunched and her gaze fluttered over him, landing on things he couldn't see. For a minute she looked overwhelmed, but he moved slowly and sat on the floor beside her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, inspecting the line of toys on the floor. They were carefully squared off, all facing the same direction.

"Organizing," she said, kneeling alongside him. "Fuzzy ones on this end, and hard ones there."

"I know which ones I'd want to cuddle with," he said.

She didn't giggle like she used to, but there was a toothy smile. She handed him a stuffed dragon.

"You can help," she said generously.

For the next little while, they organized, Fumie handing him things, Freed trying to figure out where they went, and her correcting him.

This tight organization was something new, but Laxus had warned him. Freed understood: with new stressors, she had adapted ways to cope.

At last they sat back and admired their handiwork. Freed noted she'd moved closer to him throughout their play. He so wanted to scoop her into his lap, but he was scared of hurting her and had already determined to let her decide how much touch was okay for her over-sensitive body.

"Freed," Fumie looked at him solemnly, "where did you go?"

"I wasn't feeling well," he said, meeting her eyes sadly. "Like you, I had to stay in my room for a bit."

"Ojiisan said you were sick."

"In a way. I had trouble recharging my magic."

She tilted her head. Freed straightened a pencil so it was parallel with a sword.

"I had to take extra time to refresh after the last bout of spells I wrote," he explained.

"You were missing for _two whole days,_ " she said.

"You're right. Usually taking in ethernanos isn't so slow."

"Did someone attack you?"

"No. It was just me. Sometimes when we don't feel good emotionally, other things about our body shut down. Emotions strongly affect magic in general."

When she bit her lip in consternation, Freed gave her a reassuring smile. It hadn't been that bad, just a few days to sleep and calm down—the torture was that he couldn't check on her.

He'd emptied himself putting spells on this room. Though it was multiple guildmembers who contributed ideas, it all employed Freed's magic; Laxus had followed after him helplessly while Freed wrote runes over many hours. Making a dim, scentless, tasteless, near-silent room where air pressure was lower and nothing moved but human bodies. Making it safe for her to wake up.

When it was done, Freed went home, leaving Laxus to watch over their still-unconscious charge, and cried himself to sleep.

"I'm glad you're doing better, Fumie—" he began, when she flung her arms around his waist.

"Feel okay," she murmured against his jacket.

A whole new crack split through his heart.

"I am already," he said, wrapping an arm around her and trying to get her to raise her head. There was a sniffle. "Being with you is making me better. Are you crying?"

She shook her head and continued pressing her face to his coat.

"It's okay to cry," he said gently. "It's okay to feel sad. Many of us do when difficult things happen."

"Difficult…?"

"Like your new senses."

Fumie wiped her face and sat up. "I can already read Pap—Laxus's breaths."

"Yeah?"

"He laughs so quietly nobody else knows he's laughing," she said, shaking her head at this ridiculousness. "Instead of crying, he swallows. A lot."

"That sounds about right."

"He inhales whenever someone mentions you."

Freed smiled. "Is that so?"

She nodded and grinned back.

It hit him that his and Laxus's relationship was in some ways something they gave to her. She counted on them caring about each other as much as about her; she felt more secure when they did.

For Freed, it was an incredibly easy thing to do.

"So do you have your magic back?" she asked.

"You tell me. Can you feel my magic?"

Fumie squinted at him. "Yes. I think so."

"Good job."

She gave a satisfied nod that looked so much like Laxus, Freed almost laughed.

"I can show you my new runes," she said.

Freed made a noise of interest, hoping she couldn't pick up how much his insides churned. Laxus said she hadn't shown anyone how she transformed herself; Freed wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure he wanted to _not_ know.

But the purple letters that flowed through the air had nothing to do with Dragon Slaying magic.

"Your writing has gotten much clearer," Freed said appreciatively. "What language is that?"

"I don't know. I made it up."

"It reminds me of ancient Olmec…"

As he showed her the script and she practiced, with silly flapping gestures and dramatic flourishes, a trickle of giggles turned into the pair of them all-out laughing. Freed could feel a fractured something being stitched into a whole. Maybe it was their family.

When he told her how proud he was of her, he could feel the happiness radiating off her in clouds. The same feeling was radiating off of him, too.

He needed her. As much as she needed him.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Freed and Fumie, Laxus had stopped in the doorway. Sounds from outside the room could not be heard, smells didn't penetrate, and even the air did not stir, so the pair were oblivious as he watched them play.

Freed would never say it, but being stuck at home had deeply upset him. He was too weak to come to the guild, though he'd tried valiantly to work up the strength. Finally last night he'd slept the whole night, and barely ate breakfast before he headed to Fairy Tail.

Laxus too had hardly slept since finding her. The first night, they'd stared up at the ceiling together in the dark as the hours ticked by, fear making a third being tangible in the room beside them.

But when Laxus visited her the next morning, she'd awoken, and Freed's runes had worked and she wasn't in painful overload and…it was okay. Most of that first day she'd spent wordlessly cuddled up to his side. Laxus could not express how relieving it was to hold her and not have her scream. He would never forget her screaming.

Fumie did something which made Freed startle and laugh; a beautiful, unself-conscious sound.

"Is that a new spell?" Freed asked.

"Mm!" Another buzz of sparks lit her fingers. "It's much easier now."

"You always wanted to be a dragon," Freed said. "Now you are."

She nodded.

"Sorry," she said after a moment.

"Don't be, love. It's an adventure we'll figure out together. I think Laxus is happy: he's never had someone to teach his magic to before. There's no one else who can _do_ his kind of magic."

"I'm…special."

"You always are, Fumie. You don't need magic to be special. That said, your magic is special too."

She beamed at him.

"Will my eye do that thing?" she asked.

"Which thing? Oh," Freed laughed. "It can if you learn the technique for eye magic. But don't you have enough magic already?" he teased.

"No such thing!"

"Silly." The smile in Freed's voice was as bright as summer. "Come here."

He held out his arms and Fumie rushed into them, face against his neck. Laxus was struck again by much he liked seeing Freed like this.

"I hope you're always this curious, love," Freed was saying. "Safety is important, but life should be a quest for learning."

Laxus blinked. Freed was using pet names. He was not demonstrative in words: words were the holy ground of his magic. He called things by their names.

But then, Fumie was his love, wasn't she?

"Hey," Laxus said, entering the room at last. "Are we learning hug magic now?"

"Hug magic?" Fumie asked, racing over and embracing his waist.

"Oo, yours is strong," Laxus said. Giggling, she squeezed him again. "Wow, I really felt that. You could slay a dragon with that hug."

"Hug Freed!" she demanded. "Slay Freed with hug magic!"

"But I don't want to slay him," Laxus protested.

"Slay his _heart,_ " Fumie explained, as if this should be obvious.

"Oh. That I can do."

Snorting, Freed shook his head and came over for the proffered heart-slaying.


	4. Becoming Father

**Becoming Father**

Fumie gripped Laxus's forehead as the pair ran around in circles in the rain, Fumie perched on Laxus's shoulders. Freed was watching from the cover of the trees, smiling at their antics in the storm.

Laxus could bring down lightning wherever and whenever he wanted, but this was for Fumie's benefit, and she wasn't that powerful yet. She was starving, with a voracious appetite no one could keep up with, so Laxus was teaching her how to sense exactly where lightning would strike.

When Laxus paused and turned, Freed could see Fumie pointing back down the hill, and Laxus galloped back, the pair of them stopping and staring up in unison as the charge in the air grew.

Lightning flashed down.

Freed only flinched a little seeing their child lit up. Laxus was holding her tight and there was no way she could get hurt—this was her element, after all. And Laxus would deal with any extra charge.

Fulmie had her mouth open, and she appeared to be gulping down every drop of electricity she could. When the light vanished, she actually looked bigger around the middle, patting her stomach and saying something to Laxus that had them both laughing loud enough for Freed to hear.

Laxus put her down and the pair walked back.

"My turn," Laxus said, turning to Fumie. "Don't shock him."

Giggling, she came to Freed's side while Laxus strode a little ways away, gave the sky a raised-eyebrow look, and ate as lightning poured down.

Freed crouched at Fumie's side.

"Do you feel like pranking him?" he asked Fumie. "I've been thinking about some new spells…"

She grinned excitedly. "Okay!"

By the time Laxus returned, the pair were watching an extremely long worm squiggle over the grass.

"Papa, look!" She exclaimed, grabbing Laxus's hand. "She's longer than my arm."

"Damn."

"We have to protect her from birds," Fumie explained. "When she goes back underground, we can leave."

Freed watched Laxus suppress some emotion—humor, or pride, or affection. Possibly all three.

His own throat had closed when she said the word, 'Papa.' He was glad the pair was looking down, not at him. The air was too wet for them to smell him crying.

She only called Laxus that title, and only very, very occasionally. It slipped out when she was having too much fun to remain reserved—when the fear she'd been carrying ever since she transformed herself, hell, ever since they met her, fell away. Freed might feel a twinge of jealousy on occasion, but he knew Laxus was the one who was good with kids. Laxus had always wanted to be a parent. And Fumie did love and trust Freed in her own way.

She hadn't been able to sleep alone since becoming a Dragon Slayer. Sometimes she crawled in with Laxus and Freed, and sometimes Freed sat with her in her own room, trying to make it less scary by telling funny stories as she fell asleep. He never slept much those nights, but it didn't matter, because he got to hold her for hours and just be.

Fumie was part of him now. He could no more imagine life without her than he could imagine life without Laxus.

The worm had apparently slipped back into the earth, because the pair of Dragon Slayers straightened.

"Ready?" Fumie asked, smiling at Freed in apparent innocence—she was good.

"Let's go home," Laxus said, leaning over casually to kiss Freed.

Right before their lips touched, a shock of electricity passed between them. Freed yelped.

"Sorry," Laxus said, startled, while Freed rubbed his mouth.

"And you told _me_ not to shock him," Fumie said, crossing her small arms in disapproval.

"Guess I didn't follow my own advice," Laxus said. "Sorry, love. Do-over?"

Freed leaned in, smiling—and the same thing happened.

"Ow," Freed said. "Was there something weird about that lightning you two ate?"

"No," Fumie said. "It tasted normal."

Laxus was frowning down at his hand, reaching toward Freed and drawing back when they all heard the telltale buzz.

"Damn. That's more than a little static."

"Fumie, is it the same with you?" Freed asked, holding out his palm.

She grabbed his hand, Freed clasping her fingers and unable to contain his happiness at this affection.

"We're fine," Fumie said, looking up at Laxus in confusion and a hint of fear.

"It's okay," Laxus told her quickly. "It's just…a little mystery. Freed, did you touch anything weird maybe?"

"Like something covered in static?" Freed asked. "Not besides our girl, and she has her lightning contained better than you."

The teasing tone and Freed's smirk made Laxus laugh.

"Guess you are better than me, kid," he said. "Hey, let's see if…"

He held out his hand to Fumie too, and Fumie went to take it without question.

Until lightning cracked the air between their hands. They leapt apart amid a small clap of thunder.

"Shit!" Laxus exclaimed. "That's never happened before."

"But…I want to hold your hand," Fumie whined.

"Alright, it's okay; give me a second," Laxus soothed, crouching by her and dropping off as he closed his eyes. Freed felt a subtle shift in magic and Laxus glowed for a few seconds. "Try that…"

Lightning cracked between them again.

"Dammit! I've never had this happen before. I have it all contained; there shouldn't be anything ambient even in the air…"

Fumie stuck her lip out, looking close to tears.

"It's okay," Laxus soothed, reaching to hug her before realizing he couldn't. "Fuck."

Laxus broke off as Fumie and Freed glanced at each other and started laughing.

"I think we've upset him enough." Freed erased their runes with a swipe of his hand.

"Seriously?" Laxus said.

Freed grinned and pulled him in for a kiss.

"I'm almost tempted to shock you for real," Laxus grumbled. Instead he kissed Freed for an extra long time, warm and happy, before swooping down and whisking Fumie off her feet.

"Was that your idea?" he asked.

"No," she laughed. "I just copied."

Laxus raised his eyebrows as he set her down again.

"Really? You're completely—" he tickled her, "innocent?"

Fumie burst into delighted, high-pitched laughter, trying to tickle him back. With longer arms, Laxus quickly won that battle, Fumie dropping to the ground and squealing happily while she rolled in the mud.

"Wait," she finally gasped, out of breath, and Laxus pulled back immediately.

"You're a mess," he grinned.

Her reply was a mud-spattered smile. With her sitting in the dirt, Laxus crouching in front of her, the pair of them looking so happy… Freed wanting to collect that image in his memory forever.

Laxus's lips moved as if whispering, and Freed narrowed his eyes. Especially when Fumie's expression shifted to mischief and she looked Freed's way.

"Hey, guess what—" she began, then launched herself at Freed in a full-body hug, wrapping her arms around his legs.

Freed, not expecting a this, tried to catch his balance without trampling on her, but fell instead, landing in the mud beside her.

"What?" he sputtered.

"Got you!" she grinned.

"You are a little mud demon, aren't you?" he said, grabbing her. He was already covered in mud at this point, after all, so giving her a real hug couldn't make it much worse. Until a muddy hand came up and patted his mouth.

He blinked at her.

"Got you again."

Spitting to the side, Freed shook his head. He was smiling, and he didn't even know why, because being dirty from head to toe had never been his definition of fun before. But with Fumie, even the mundane became exciting.

"You're incorrigible," he told her, rising and holding out a hand to pull her up. "Shall we head home?"

"In…corr…" Fumie muttered, sounding like she was trying to memorize the word. " 'Kay."

Freed looked at Laxus and gave him a muddy grin. "Feel like kissing me again?"

"No," Laxus laughed. "But I'll hold your very dirty hand."

"How generous of you."

They beamed at each other for a moment, then the three of them started toward home.

They tried to wipe off as much mud as possible before going in the door, but Fumie still looked like a small terror arising from the earth, and Freed had a feeling he didn't look much better.

"I think we need a bath."

"You two do, at least," Laxus said, helping Fumie get her coat off and leaving it in a dripping pile by the door to deal with later. "Go ahead. I'll make tea."

Fumie's excitement from the day still hadn't burned out when they got in the bath—Freed wondered if lightning had manic effects. Either that or she was just in a really good mood because she wasn't hungry for once.

He finished scrubbing himself off while Fumie did more splashing than washing, then turned to her.

"Alright, time to do your hair."

When she obediently turned her back toward him, Freed burst out laughing.

"Your hair is stuck together in one giant tangle," he said. "Oh dear."

"Be gentle," she requested, though Freed always tried to be.

"Do you want to cut it short?" he asked, beginning on the lowest knots. "It wouldn't get in the way as much."

"No."

"You like it like this?"

"It's fun when you tie it up."

He chuckled. "I can still tie it back if it's shorter."

"But then it wouldn't look like yours."

Freed combed the mud out of another section of green hair. The bathwater was starting to turn murky.

"You like that we look similar?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah. People ask questions when it's just Papa and me."

"I see."

He scooped some water over her hair, Fumie patiently bending her head forward to make it easier. Cleaning her hair was one thing that was definitely Freed's job: Laxus always lost patience halfway through.

"I wish I had things I could tell you about your birth family," he said after a minute. "Or a picture. I'm sorry we don't know anything about them."

Fumie said nothing. Freed picked a twig out of her hair.

"It's okay if you're sad," he said. "Or angry. Or if you don't care, or don't know how you feel. It's all okay; and you don't have to tell me, either."

"I don't know how I feel," she said after a moment.

"Fumie, if you like, when Laxus and I get off our next spate of jobs, we can go looking for information about your roots. We know where you came from and your name, and we know you got your green hair from somewhere." He smiled. "We might be able to find information about your family. It could be worth trying."

Fumie sniffed. Startled, Freed combed his fingers against her scalp, trying to look around and catch her expression.

"But you're my family," she murmured, turning to stare at him with sad eyes. "Right?"

"Yes." Freed framed her face with his hands. "Always. We love you, and nothing will ever change that. No matter what you decide to do about your birth family: if you want to know or not, if you change your mind. No matter who that birth family is. No matter what you do or the choices you make in life, ever, we will _always_ love you. I promise."

Fumie was sniffling now, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Freed leaned in and kissed her head, brushing bangs out of her eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

"You already call Laxus 'Papa' sometimes," he reminded her. "If that's not family, I don't know what is."

Her eyes widened and she sniffed hard.

"I'm sorry."

"Why? He loves it when you call him that."

Laxus had always wanted children. Now he had one. And Freed…

"I'm supposed to be careful and wait," she said, biting her lip and still looking sorry. "He said you wouldn't want me calling you that. He said it's hard for you because you don't like your own papa."

Freed blinked.

"He did?"

"Yeah. When I first called him papa, he said he wanted to be my father but that we had to wait for you to feel okay before we could say it all the time."

Freed inhaled. As his breath shuddered, his eyes overflowed, pain and affection and jealousy clashing in a warm collision he couldn't contain inside his body.

"You're crying," Fumie said in fear, reaching out to touch his cheek.

"It's okay," he said, smiling through his tears. "Crying is good. And in this case, I'm crying because I love you."

"That makes you sad?"

"No," he laughed, "exactly the opposite. You may call me papa, Fumie. That is one-hundred-percent okay."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes. These are my happy tears. Thank you for waiting for me to be okay."

"Was your father really bad?" she asked soberly.

"Not the same as Laxus's father," Freed said, and Fumie nodded. She had gotten the child-appropriate version of why Makarov, and not Ivan, was whom she called grandfather. "My father didn't hurt me. But he was never around much, and he didn't care about me. Both of my parents were very busy, and I had a lot of siblings, and people in my family didn't get along the way people in our big Fairy Tail family do. They got angry at each other a lot."

"Did your family not love you?"

"I don't believe so," Freed said sadly. "They didn't really know me. Because nobody was paying attention, a couple of my siblings and people outside my family were able to hurt me, and I spent a long time being afraid before I came to Fairy Tail."

"You were scared?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yes. Everybody gets scared: Laxus gets scared, too. I was scared because the people who hurt me used words that hurt my soul. They told me I wasn't a good person, and I believed them for a very long time."

"But not anymore."

"Nope." He grinned. "Now I have lots of people who love me, and I know I'm a good, strong person. Just like you are. Just like Laxus is."

"So," she said slowly, "it's okay if I call you papa? Because…you're not like your papa. I want us to be like _us._ "

"Yes. We're going to use the words 'father' and 'daughter' the right way. We're going to use them for what they actually mean: people who love each other no matter what. Right?"

She smiled. "Right."

"Well, your hair's all clean and this water is lukewarm. Was there anything else you wanted to say before we get out? Are you doing okay?"

Her grin was genuine as she nodded.

"Yeah. Papa."

Freed's heart burst into fireworks in his chest.

"I can hear that," she said as he climbed out.

"Yeah, and what does my racing heart mean this time?"

"It means you're happy," she said. "It beats differently when you're happy or when you're angry."

"Probably differently when I'm anxious, too."

"Huh."

Fumie looked like she was processing this as he dried her off, then started toweling his own hair. He loved her scientific mind. He would never, ever tire of seeing the wondering, awe-filled, questioning expressions on her face when she was thinking.

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he opened the door.

"Time to get dressed," he said, chivvying her forward. "I bet Laxus has tea waiting for us."

She turned around and embraced him in a sudden, tight hug.

"I love you," she whispered.

Freed squeezed her tighter. "I love you back."

When they made it out to the main room dressed and clean, Laxus looked up from his book. Before he could open his mouth, Fumie had launched herself at him and hugged him.

"I love you, Papa," she whispered.

"I love you too," Laxus said, holding her.

When Laxus looked at Freed in confusion, Freed smiled enigmatically.

"Your tea got cold, so I reheated it," Laxus said once she'd let go. "I guess you guys were _really_ dirty."

Fumie ran to the table and exclaimed over the cookies sitting there.

"Thought you might be hungry again," Laxus told her. "I started dinner."

"I am hungry," she said, scrunching her face. "I hate that part of being a dragon. I can't even fly."

"I bet you could learn flight magic from Ever," Laxus said.

Ignoring this (a sign something big was up), Fumie stuffed a cookie in her mouth, looked at him intensely, and said, "Guess what?"

"What?" Laxus asked, brows drawing down.

"I can call Freed papa now. He said it was okay. Which means we can be a family."

Laxus blinked rapidly.

"We already are a family…" he muttered. He turned to his partner. "F-Freed? Really?"

Freed nodded.

"Since when?"

"Since…now. Since watching you two. If I'm being honest, I was getting a little jealous."

Fumie gasped in indignation and ran back around the table to give him another hug. She was giving out so many hugs today. That would never have happened a year ago. Freed would never have dreamed they'd be _here_ a year ago.

"Freed…" Laxus rose and hugged Freed too, arms shaking. "I know what this means to you."

Freed rubbed Laxus's back and held him tightly.

"I want to be a family, Laxus. A real one."

"You said we already were," Fumie accused.

"I mean legally," Freed said.

Fumie and Laxus both blinked at him.

"Really?" Laxus breathed.

He didn't give Freed a chance to do more than nod when he was kissing the rune mage with every bit of energy in his body—which, considering he just ate lightning, was a lot. Freed felt himself surrounded, overwhelmed by the power of this affection. Gods, he loved Laxus.

Fumie was laughing at them and tugging on their arms.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

Laxus stared in wet-eyed awe at Freed for another moment before crouching down.

"You know how we have a piece of paper saying we get to take care of you?"

She nodded.

"This would be even better than that. We'd be adopting you. It means they wouldn't be able to take you away from us no matter what. You'd belong with us forever. You'd even get to share our surnames if you want."

Fumie stared between them wide-eyed.

Then she burst into tears and flung herself at Laxus.

"Do you like that, Fumie?" Freed asked gently, crouching on her other side and making it a three-way embrace. "You can think about it."

Fumie shook her head against Laxus's neck. Freed caught mumbled words.

Laxus laughed.

"We can't do it tonight," he said, "but we can get to work on papers first thing tomorrow. Means we'll have to cancel our job, but I think this is worth it."

He and Freed grinned at each other.

Fumie bobbed her head eagerly, looking back and forth between them while she wiped her face.

"Hey, don't wipe snot onto your clean clothes," Freed chided, reaching into a pocket. "This is what kerchiefs are for."

They were a boisterous, happy mess in the kitchen, making a racket, practically tripping over each other as they made dinner, which Fumie insisted on helping with (an excuse to eat as she went).

They were up past Fumie's usual bedtime, cuddling on the sofa and talking. Her energy seemed inexhaustible, until suddenly she curled up in Freed's lap, quieted down, and within minutes had fallen asleep.

"I like that she runs out of energy so quickly," Freed murmured. "No more grumpy tantrums."

"It's because she's conserving," Laxus said. "I've been teaching her to hold in her lightning so she's not quite so hungry all the time. Otherwise she just leaks magical energy everywhere."

He smiled down at her and rubbed her back.

"Is that also why she stopped drawing runes on every surface?" Freed asked.

"I think that was because you asked," Laxus pointed out. "And she really likes imitating you, too. And making you happy."

They got her upstairs and into her bed without waking her, Freed plaiting the end of her hair so it wouldn't snarl while she slept.

"Should one of us stay…?"

"I think we can sleep in our own bed tonight," Laxus said, putting an arm around his waist. "She knows where to find us."

Once in their room, Freed moved through the dark toward the light switch, but Laxus closed the door and grabbed his hand.

"Wait…" he rumbled.

Freed saw a flash of runes as Laxus wrote the all-important spell for silence, and next thing he knew, Laxus was sliding his hands into Freed's pants, untucking Freed's shirt, blindly fumbling at the buttons. Panting, Freed helped him and let Laxus lead him to the bed.

"Happy?" Freed asked with a smile, in between fervent, eager kisses that got his pulse increasing for a totally other reason than the ones Fumie knew about.

"So happy," Laxus grunted, licking and sucking at Freed's neck. "You want… You actually want…"

"I want you," Freed whispered. "I want to have a family with you. I want to never have to find someone else to share my life with."

Gasping, Laxus stared at him in the dark, then pushed on his shoulders so Freed went tumbling down onto the bed. Laxus followed after him, pulling off his own trousers and leaving them behind.

"Do you love me?" Freed asked, slipping the rest of his clothes off and staring up at Laxus above him.

"Yes," Laxus said, voice husky.

"Show me."


	5. Growing Pains

**Growing Pains**

A week later they were lying in the dark panting against each other, the night still young thanks to Fumie falling asleep early.

"Freed," Laxus groaned, "I love you."

"That'll make co-parenting easier," Freed teased.

While Laxus kissed his chest, Freed rolled up onto his elbow.

"How do you want to do things for the adoption?" Freed asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean us. Laxus—hahhh…" Freed waited for the man to stop sucking on his neck. "You know how we've talked about buying a place."

Laxus stared at him with huge eyes.

"The discussion has never really gone anywhere," Freed went on. "But having a permanent place is something to consider now, I think."

Laxus thought for a long moment, his eyes on Freed's. "Together?"

"If we're doing this, if we're actually going to be parents together," Freed said, staring down at their clasped hands, "then I think pretending there's anything separate about our finances at this point is a bit silly. Don't you?"

Laxus snorted.

"We haven't bothered to separate our earnings in years. It all just goes to the same place," he rumbled.

"So, together," Freed said with a smile. "A place we'd both call home, and Fumie too. A place that would be ours. Worth thinking about?"

"You're my home," Laxus said, kissing Freed's cheek, which had reddened.

"That's very romantic," he murmured.

"And true," Laxus said. "So do we ask Fumie about this idea? Or is this something we don't want her input on?"

"I think it's worth telling her. Besides, she can come along when we look at places."

"As long as she doesn't make a fuss," Laxus grumbled, but Freed just shook his head. Fumie didn't like strange and unknown things, but she loved adventure when she felt safe. You just had to frame things right.

* * *

"Here," Fumie said. "I want this house."

Freed was already walking back toward the front door, having seen enough. "It's too large, Fumie. We don't need this many rooms."

"It's not."

He smiled at her. "Silly, you have one bedroom all to yourself: what would you do with more? Most kids your age have to share with other siblings."

She laughed, but then sobered again.

"We need more rooms for more kids," she said, just as Laxus strode into the room. "For when you get more."

Freed blinked and looked at his partner, who appeared just as surprised.

"Where would we get more?" Freed asked her, mouth on autopilot.

"You know neither of us has the necessary body for that," Laxus put in.

"From your missions," she said. "Same as me."

Laxus recovered enough to sweep her up into his arms.

"We'll see," he said. "For now, though, it's just us. On the other hand, I really like this house. And you're right: it's not _very_ much bigger than what we need."

He and Fumie looked at Freed.

Sighing, Freed turned and held the door open for them, mind spinning with numbers and protests and numbers that didn't put up a very good fight. He had a feeling that even if he avoided their eyes and arguments, he would be capitulating. The pair were his beloved people, after all. He had a hard time saying no to their happiness.

* * *

"…so we cannot tell Elfman, or he'll spill the beans," Cana whispered to Freed. "Lisanna will help us on the day of, and Gajeel will be my man during preparations, for those times when I'll be busy distracting her."

"You are _excellent_ at distracting Mira," Freed smirked.

Cana blushed, glared, and grinned in the same look.

Another pair of laughs erupted from the bedroom and they fell silent, focusing on holes he was spackling and cabinet hinges she was replacing.

"We're going to really surprise her this year," Cana said, when it was clear Mira and Fumie were still ensconced in their work and not emerging any time soon. "Every time anyone tries, she figures it out, but this year, we're going to catch her one-hundred-percent by surprise. There's even a _fake_ surprise party so she can _think_ she's figured it out. And I've made sure nobody knows who might tell."

"You know Fumie can hear everything we're saying, right?" Freed said. "I mean, she's going to keep the secret. She's quite good at that. Just saying."

"Gods, I keep forgetting we have a kid in the guild who's a Dragon Slayer."

"Yep."

"I'm so sorry about all the things I say."

Freed laughed—Cana actually looked apologetic.

"We're not shying away from those topics, Cana. She needs to know sex is normal. You're a great educational tool: the number of times she's asked us about 'that word Cana-oba said'…"

Cana blushed.

Stepping back, she surveyed the house. "Are you going to, um…?"

"Sound-proof? Yes. And smell-proof. At least our bedroom. Those runes are easy."

"I mean…can't she just erase them if she wanted?"

"Yes, but Fumie's a good kid. When we ask her seriously and explain why we're asking, she agrees."

"Explain?"

"Yes, as in: we need alone time sometimes and we want to be able to do private things together. She understands that that's sometimes something people want and should have. Just because she's a Dragon Slayer doesn't mean we're not teaching her privacy and consent."

"Wow. I don't think I could be a parent."

"It's not as hard as it seems," Freed said. He grinned. "It's much harder."

Cana laughed.

Just then, Fumie emerged, followed by a breathlessly chuckling Mirajane. The pair were speckled from head to toe in multiple colors of paint.

"Having fun?" Cana asked.

Fumie beamed and nodded vigorously.

"We've made quite a rainbow," Mira said, turning to Freed. "We want you to come see our handiwork."

Fumie was already grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the room which would, very soon, be hers.

"Isn't it pretty?" she asked as he reached the doorway. Spots of pink, purple, green, and half dozen other pastels were flung across the walls.

"It is," Freed said, and meant it: in an art-nouveau kind of way. They'd agreed Fumie could paint her room whatever color(s) she wanted. "How did you get the speckles so small and natural-looking?"

"We flung them."

"You dip the brush in the paint and flip the bristles at the wall," Mira explained.

"That's why you both look like you walked out of a Pridefest poster."

Mira and Fumie grinned.


	6. In Words

**In Words**

Freed pored over the spread of books, frustrated. This library had turned up surprisingly little. It irritated him sometimes how much knowledge was lost to time because nobody had recorded it: how many names and dates and events and ways of life were gone, never to be remembered.

Actually, it depressed him, but he tried not to think about it.

Fumie had been asking more questions lately. Were there lots of people with green hair? Were she and Freed related? Was her birth mother a mage? What happened to her?

That last had been asked in a quiet, scared voice one night after Freed had turned out the light. They'd spent a long time with Freed explaining that Fumie had done nothing wrong: had not caused her first family to abandon her.

"I don't know what happened to them, but I know it wasn't your fault. When you're young…you can't do things that bear the blame. So I can say with certainty: it wasn't your fault."

"But…what happened to them?" she'd asked. "Doesn't someone know?"

And so here he was.

Another hour turned up nothing but a reference to a book the library didn't have in its collection. With a sigh, Freed left, hoping Laxus had thought to make dinner.

Hungry Fumie was not pleasant Fumie.

* * *

"Hey, love," Freed beamed, entering first and getting first crack at a hug from Fumie.

"Welcome home!" she chimed, despite the fact that they were at the ladies' house. It was the sentiment that counted.

Laxus got exuberant second-dibs cuddles.

"How was your mission?" Lucy asked.

Instinctively, his hand went into his pocket to check on the contents.

"The usual," Freed said, grinning as Bickslow and Fumie had a tongue-waggling contest. "Went mostly unscathed, except for Laxus."

"It was just a conk on the head," Laxus protested, rolling his eyes. "I'm fine."

"I'm watching him for signs of a concussion," Freed said with a mock-conspiratorial look. "But with Laxus, it's hard to tell."

Lucy laughed.

As they trod home later, Ever and Fumie walked a little behind, heads together. Whatever they were saying was making Laxus grin.

"What are you plotting back there?" Bickslow asked.

"We are going to have a sleepover," Ever said.

Freed turned around. "Says who?"

"You promised," Fumie put in.

"Not tonight though." The words burst out of him without thought, startled. All Freed could think about was how they were going to tell her what they'd found.

"Of course not tonight, dufus." Ever swatted at him. "Later this week. She can't spend all her time with men."

"Yes I can," Fumie giggled.

"Who is going to paint your nails pretty colors?"

"Laxus does."

"But I bet he doesn't have as many colors as I do," Ever pressed.

This got Fumie considering.

"There isn't one way to be a woman, Ever," Freed said.

"Oh, I know. But she's not going to learn _any_ ways from you. Not that she's not learning good things." Ever smiled at Fumie. "I heard you protected the new girl the other day when a fight broke out in the guild. Is that true?"

Fumie nodded.

"You learned _that_ from your fathers. Hard to say which one more."

* * *

After a team dinner, Bickslow and Ever returned to their respective homes and Freed joined Fumie on the sofa to learn the new game she had created. In the background, he could hear Laxus cleaning up the kitchen, but his focus was on Fumie until there was a crash.

He and Fumie leapt up from the couch and careened in.

"Goddess, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Laxus winced. "Just clumsy. Dropped a cup. Don't step in the glass."

Freed hurriedly pulled Fumie back.

"Barefoot people should not be in here," he said.

He helped Laxus clean up, and Laxus abandoned chores in favor of perching on the couch watching their game. He looked as tired as Freed felt.

"I think that mission took more out of us than I realized," Freed said.

"Did you catch all the monsters?" Fumie interjected.

"Unfortunately they were humans, not monsters. Yes, we did."

She looked at Laxus. "Did you really get hit in the head?"

Laxus winced.

"He was trying to protect people," Freed said. "Just like you were at the guild the other day."

"I didn't get hurt," Fumie said.

"No, and I'm glad. But sometimes doing the right thing means you'll get hurt for it. That doesn't mean it isn't still the right thing."

Fumie looked sober at that.

Suddenly her gaze sharpened and she jerked. "Papa—!"

Laxus had slid sideways on the couch, eyes fluttering.

"Sorry," he muttered, brushing his forehead. "Sudden dizziness…"

"You do have a concussion." Freed was already standing over him, extending his hands. "Up. Come on. Fumie and I will get you to bed."

A little of Fumie's worry seemed to lessen as Freed gave her things to do—open the door, fetch water please—and when Laxus was lying down, Fumie perched at his side on the bed, petting his hand.

"Do you need quiet?" she whispered.

"I…hard to say," Laxus said.

"You need rest," Freed said, joining Fumie cross-legged at Laxus's side. "If you nap, I'm going to wake you in an hour to make sure you're still okay."

Laxus groaned, eyes closed. "That does not sound fun."

"Unfortunately, it's necessary. Do you need me to use runes?"

"Pretty sure I'll fall asleep without help." He yawned. "But you can stay here."

Freed smiled at this. He felt Fumie's eyes tracking between them.

"Laxus." Freed paused. "May I? Can you stay awake?"

"Yes." Laxus rolled up onto his side immediately. "Definitely. I want to be present for this."

"Fumie." Freed reached into a pocket and pulled out the papers he'd been checking on all day. "I finally got my hands on records from the area we found you. I checked a few other books, old newspapers… I found your birth family."

Her eyes widened as she looked from Freed to the paper. Trepidation wormed onto her face, alongside excitement.

"Fumie," Laxus said. His voice was tired, but he was watching her closely. "We want you to know that no matter what, we are your fathers and we love you."

Fumie nodded.

"I love you too," she murmured.

Putting an arm around her, Freed tucked her against his side.

"Do you want to see what I found? You don't have to."

"I want to see."

Nodding, he unfolded the papers, copies of pages and—the last sheet—a copy of an old painting. She hadn't noticed that one yet.

"Seven years ago in summer, this family," Freed pointed at the birth certificate, "had a daughter. They named her Fumie. There was an epidemic four years later," he said, voice slow and calm, "and both her parents died. She dropped out of any local records: nothing about who took her in or took care of her."

"I took care of myself," Fumie said in a small voice.

"Yes, you did. And I'm proud of you for doing that for so long, and also sad that you didn't have anyone there for you."

"I had magic," she said, voice getting even tinier.

Freed squeezed her.

"As did your parents. Both of them, and your grandmother. It was a small town, so not a lot of people learned magic, and the ones that did are noted.

"Your mother," he went on, "preferred using runes. I gather she did a lot of things like marking property lines and keeping sheep in the right pasture. She's mentioned in the local records a lot. Some…" He paused. "Some of her jutsu shiki might even still be there."

Her head shot up. "Really?"

"Possibly. We could go and see; it isn't far."

"So these…they were my parents." She touched the papers. "She had me as a baby."

"Yes."

Freed rubbed her back, letting her process. She seemed in awe, shocked, in a trance of unreality. He supposed that was normal.

He realized she still hadn't seen the last paper.

"I couldn't find any images of your parents. But I did find," he pulled out the picture, "an image of your grandmother."

There was a soft inhale as Fumie took the page from him. This was how Freed was certain they'd found Fumie's blood relatives, and not merely a family with a child of the same name.

"She looks…like me," Fume said as she looked up at him.

He brushed the hair from her forehead. "She does. Very much like you."

Sniffing, she held the paper closer, eyes darting as if she wanted to get every single detail just right.

Emotions flitted unmasked across her face. Laxus, for all his tiredness, reached out and touched her knee. She grabbed his hand.

"Papa," she said after a while, taking Freed's hand as well. "What were their names?"

* * *

At her request, Freed found where they were buried. And then, for a long time, Fumie did not want to go.

"They're not my real parents," she'd say, as if this excused their importance, but then she would cry and Freed and Laxus would hold her, accepting the lie as a form of self-protection for now.

Six months later, she asked if they could go.

It was close enough that they didn't need to take transit, hiking the kilometers through rolling hills. When Fumie grew tired, Laxus carried her on his shoulders, and her mood boomeranged between excitement at being on a trip—making up songs, telling silly jokes, pulling sly pranks with her magic—and soberness, staring ahead with her eyes reflecting the grey sky.

It was a small, unremarkable graveyard. The pillar over the family grave was weathered and worn, with cramped writing spelling out the names. Fumie's father had been buried with her mother's family, meaning, Freed told her, that they had gotten married.

"I'm certain," Laxus said, "that they love you and are proud."

Fumie nodded.

"And you're not related to them," she clarified with Freed.

"No. Although all humans are related at some point in the past."

She smiled a little.

There were no tears—no attempts to swallow them back, either. She stared at the grave for a long time. Then she waved, as if in farewell, and said, "Thank you for what you did. I was born. I have new papas now, and I love them—and I'm going to love them more and more. I hope you like that."

She touched it, then turned to Freed and Laxus.

"Can we go home now?"

"Yes," Laxus said, rubbing her back as she hugged first Freed and then him.

"I like having a home," she said. "And family."

"I do too," Freed said. "And I'm so glad I have you as a part of it."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm leaving this open-ended to add to if I want. ^^ I had an absolute blast writing parental Fraxus.


End file.
